y adventurers on Mont Blanc were not inevitably moun- translation appeared in Basel 7 soon afterward cowards Couttet told Durier 14 in 1874 ( when Couttet was then the
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DR HAMEL, IMPASSIVE SCIENTIST - Alpine Journal
y adventurers on Mont Blanc were not inevitably moun- translation appeared in Basel 7 soon afterward cowards Couttet told Durier 14 in 1874 ( when Couttet was then the
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DR. HAMEL, IMPASSIVE
DR. HAMEL, IMPASSIVE
By J. MONROE
HE early adventurers on Mont Blanc were not inevitably moun taineers, since for most of them this was their one incursion above the snowline. However successful they may have been in er walks of life, their very names might have been forgotten save for this fleeting notoriety, and the individual emerges through encounter with the mountain. One of these is Dr. Joseph Hamel, who passes as a sinister shadow through the annals of the great white moun- tain, forever linked with the first fatal accident. · He was born in I788 at Sarepta, on the lower Volga, in Russia. 1 In1807 he obtained
notice through the invention of an electrical machine, and, after finishing his studies in I8I3, was named by the EmperorAlexander I memb.
er of the Academy of Medicine. Soon afterward he visited England, travelling over the country and becoming familiar with it. He was appointed to accompany the Grand Duke Nicholas (later Emperor) during histour of England in I815, and also conducted the Grand Duke Michael in I8I8. His reputation for learning was
established. Intensely interested in the physiology of heights and depths, he corresponded for a number of years with Marc- . Auguste Pictet (I752-I825), of Geneva.Although
Mont Blanc pioneers such as Beaufoy, Montgolfier andAlbert
Smith also went aloft in balloons, Dr. Hamel enters remembered time from the floor of the sea. In I 8 I 9 he sent Pictet his observations 2 made in a new type of diving chamber in which he descended with two workmen to a depth of thirty feet at Howth, Dublin, during the construction of a stone jetty for shipping between England and Ireland.He was surprised by the amount of light
that filtered down, enabling him to write ; he noted pressure in his ears, which he would later remark on the Dome du Gouter, and concluded that the diving-bell might cure deafness caused by the occlusion of the Eustachian tubes. In the next year, animated by De Saussure's books, he visitedPictet
at Geneva and secured scientific instruments which he intended to use on Mont Blanc. It is almost certain that his mission was by command of the Czar. 3In I8Ig Joseph Zumstein had ascended the
peak of Monte Rosa that bears his name and proclaimed that the highest point probably overtoppedMont Blanc. So Geneva scientists were
eager to assist Hamel in restoring the pre-eminence of the Chamonix monarch. 1Obituary notice in the Gentleman's Magazine, December 1862, p. 788. This might be one basis for the alleged Russian discovery of electricity, the
invention of the locomotive, and possibly of Mont Blanc. 2 Lettre du Dr. Hamel au Prof. Pictet, sur la cloche des plongeurs; BibliothequeUniverse/le (Geneva), March 1820, p. 230. .
3 A. Dumas, Impressions de Voyage (edit. 1851), I, p. 145 .DR. HAMEL, IMPASSIVE
His first attempt at an ascent was from. St. Gervais, as the proprietor of the nevvLy erected inn at Bellevue advertised that this could be accomplished in a single day without bivouac. Starting on August 3 (De Saussure's anniversary) and sleeping out at the loftier position of Pierre Ronde (T ete Rousse), he and two local cures and their guides gained the Dome du Gouter on the following morning, where they were seen through a telescope by Maria Edgeworth and Prof. from the Pictet had visited the Edgeworth family in England in I 8o2 and was now conducting them on their excursion from Geneva to Chamonix. But extreme fatigue caused Hamel to return, convinced that only the strongest guides could gain the summit and return in one day by this route. Dr. Hamel went back to Geneva, there coming in contact with the Chevalier Bourdet de la Nievre, who had independently, ·and alsq from reading De Saussure, decided upon an ascent of Mont Blanc. M. Selligue, an expert mechanic who had invented a barometer, was also included. They agreed to join forces, or perhaps as Bourdet says, Hamel asked to join them. Selligue was to be in charge of experimental physics, Hamel of physiology, and Bourdet of geology, mineralogy and botany. Two young Englishmen, Joseph Dornford and Gilbert Henderson, students at Oxford, were added to the party, and departure was set for August 16. Bourdet, however, was prevented from starting until next day, when he left accompanied by M. Castan, a Geneva pharmacist. When Bourdet reached the Lac de Chede a Chamonix guide informed him that the others had already departed from the Priory with twelve guides. Bourdet and Castan secureg three additional guides and spent the night of the 18th at Pierre-a-l'Echelle. The following day being stormy they went down to the Chalet de la Para in driving rain. At seven in the evening two guides came down from the Grands Mulets for provisions, the main party remaining above. On the zoth, weather having improved, Bourdet's group started up at5.00 A.M., and at 9.oo, having passed most of the crevasses, they were
surprised to meet Selligue and two guides descending. · He reported that at 2.00 A.M. the sky appeared clearer and Hamel insisted on depar ture. The summit of Mont Blanc was uncovered, but snow had fallen and the guides wished to delay, although making ready. Selligue, ill and filled with misgivings after two wet nights, decided to descend. The guides consulted irresolutely after this, only confirming Hamel in his intention to proceed. Henderson demanded a decisive answer, abetted by the doctor. The guides remained silent until their chief,J oseph-Marie Couttet, arose
and said : Eh bien, partons nous, n'y laisserons pas tous notre peau. They left at 6.oo o'clock with eight guides. · and his guides continued down, but Bourdet and Castan and their guides, after the encounter on the glacier, proceeded to the 4 The Life and Letters of M aria Edgeworth, edited by Augustus J. C. Hare (2 vols., New York, I89s), p. 325 .DR. HAMEL, IMPASSIVE SCIENTIST
Grands Mulets, arriving at noon. Bourdet through his telescope espied on the higher slopes Henderson, Dornford and four guides, and at some distance Hamel another guide, three being missing. Two hours later the parties joined at the Grands Mulets.Despite many variants
the story of the misadventure is too well known to require repetition, except as it bears on Hamel's character. Much of the foregoing is derived from an unpublished manuscript written in1823 by Bourdet and sent to the Linnean Society of Paris.
5 Hamel himself wrote two accounts of the event. The first, atPictet's request, apparently
to dispel rumours circulated by Selligue, was Relat£on de deux tentat£ves recentes pour monter le Mont-Blanc, 6 the editor apologising for his contributor's imperfect knowledge ofFrench
and the speed with which the article was put together. A German translation appeared in Basel 7 soon afterward. Bourdet's quotations follow the first text precisely in many parts, but other compressed paragraphs suggest that he may have worked from Hamel's original notations. Later in the same year Hamel·was in Vienna and arranged an elabor ated version entitledBeschreibung zweyer Re£sen auf den Mont Blanc,
8 in which he adds a number of incidents not mentioned in the earlier account, for the apparent purpose of showing his resourcefulness and presence of mind, as well as to dissociate himself from censure. He supplemented this by a summary of the earlier ascents of Mont Blanc, described the. death of Eschen on the Buet, and summarised physio logical observations made at high elevations in other parts of the world. The guides had obtained from a woman assistant in the pharmacy of Chamonix what was thought to be syrup of vinegar, to be mixed with - water for thirst. This was entrusted to J ulien Devouassoud, who tried it at Favret's chalet only to find it was sulphuric acid, burning him so badly as to cause vomiting. Dr. Hamel at once prepared a decoction of wood-ashes, the alkaline antidote immediately restoring the guide to his normal self. Hamel lists the various scientific apparatus' brought along and the intended experiments. He had alcohol for fuel, expected to measure carbonic acid in the air and obtain sealed specimens of the summit ------:----··-atmosphere. He took a closed pot to demonstrate cooking at high levels, an electrometer, a table and camera lucida for the panorama. From Pictet he obtained instruments for measuring temperature, electricity and humidity; there were azimuth-compass, sextant, level, hygrometer and Bengal fire. 5 Relation d'une Tentative pour monter au Montblanc en I82o. From the Montagnier collection in the library of the American Alpine Club. Bourdet probably also wrote the account appearing in the Moniteur Universe[ (August 31, .1820) ; there was a further notice in the same periodical for September 29, 1820. 6 Relation de deux tentatives recentes pour monter sur le Mont-Blanc; Bibl.Univ., August 1820 ..
7Reisen auf den Montblanc; Easel, 1820.
8 Beschreibung zweyer Reisen auf den Montblanc; reprinted from three issues of the Conversationsblatte (Vienna, 1821).VOL. LVIII. NO. N
172DR. HAMEL, IMPASSIVE
The weather became the provenance of the leading guide. ' Couttet thought,' says the doctor, 'we would have a clear day but it would be well to postpone departure until sunrise. At 5 .oo o'clock of the 2oth the peak shone in the sun, the sky was clear and wind had died down. The guides were unanimous that one could now start.' At the foot of the Ancien Passage they sat down to rest. Hamel 's pulse was 130. He wrote two notes, leaving the time of arrival blank, to be sent by carrier pigeon from the summit to Sallanches. They saved a bottle of wine with which to drink a toast to De Saussure's memory. D£e Allmacht Gottes erfiillte mein Inneres was the record of the doctor's feelings, which now seem questionable, these being coupled with anticipation of chipping fragments off the highest rocks for the mineralogic cabinets of Geneva and St. The snow yielded under their feet at a point near the Rochers Rouges from whence they could begin to see the plain of Lombardy. Three guides lost their lives.J. J. Cowell (.A C.)
9 writing in 1864 mentions thatJoseph-Marie Couttet was still living and had discussed the accident with him. ' It is certain that it was not an avalanche which fell on them. Couttet says : " The snow was crusted hard to the depth of half an inch, but all soft below, being only twelve hours old.The surface cracked all along the line of
men, just where we stood." ' The mass of snow below the crack slid down, followed by that above entering the space and forming the whole into an irresi stible avalanche, finally arrested in a huge crevasse \vhich it filled to the brim and heaped over. The lost guides were in the lead on the steepest part of the slope, the accident being similar to that on the Haut de Cry in February, 1864, when the guide Bennen was killed.Hamel states
that it occurred to him that high altitude air might be a poor conductor of sound, and therefore sank their longest alpenstock in the snow filling the crevasse. He lay down and held the end against his teeth while he shouted, hoping for a response that never came.According to
the doctor, Dornford was willing to sacrifice his life if those engulfed could be saved, but the remaining guides urged de parture, took possession of Dornford and refused proffered money to stay longer. They left with Henderson, only Couttet and Hamel being behind. Couttet had lost his alpenstock in the crevasse, but Hamel states that ' He inquired, half furtively, whether I still wished to go to the summit.' They were strangely calm, enough so to sit and eat chocolate and meat (the victims so near), and only regained their companions at the Grands Mulets. There is little question but that the guides, with the exception ofCouttet, an old soldier, were panic-stricken,
10 and had an attack of nerves. Only Hamel, Dornford and Couttet were capable of rendering assistance, and these three entered the snow-filled crevasse to search for the victims. Dornford always credited Dr. Hamel for his courage . 9 On Relics of the Guides lost on Mont Blanc; A.J. I, p. 332. 1 ° C. E. Mathews, Annals of Mont Blanc, pp. 225 ff.DR. HAMEL, IMPASSIVE SCIENTIST
173At 3.00 P .. M. all continued from the Grands Mulets, reaching the Chalet de la Para at 7 . .30. Bourdet and Castan remained overnight, the others arriving in Chamonix at g.oo. Selligue had gone on to Geneva .